BirdTravels

1. The Haven does not have any higher/different standard than anywhere else on the ship. Children should try to behave themselves and not impose themselves on other passengers (e.g., Don't take over the hot tub with a fleet of floating toys and don't be banging their plates with the silverware). Yeah, probably not good to be constantly running around any restaurant, but the Haven is kid friendly. If there is something off the kids menu or main menu that you DD would like to eat at every meal, let the Maitre D know so that the galley has it on hand. Dress code in the Haven is casual. There is no "debate", that is the dress code. Shorts are allowed for all meals in the Haven restaurant and we do that from time to time. 2. Read Sthrngary's post. For us, on busy port days, we like to have breakfast served in our room. There will be the regular breakfast cards in your stateroom with check boxes. IGNORE THE CHECKBOXES and write down what you want on the card, one card per person, and get it to your butler the night before. Eggs over easy, scrambled eggs, egg whites, omelet with your choice of fillings, breakfast potatoes, hash browns, NY Strip steak, bacon, ham, sausage, mushrooms, grilled tomato, fresh fruits, fresh breads, anything you want from the Haven breakfast menu (available on your NCL app). Don't miss out on the lovely cold buffet in the Haven restaurant either - and you can ask for items from the cold buffet to be delivered. Each afternoon, your butler will deliver the snack of the day. Ask for extra snacks, or specific snacks if you want. We always ask for full bowls of M&Ms (peanut or plain), Gummy Bears, and Bar Mix (which goes into zip lock bags for snacks). We also ask for pitchers of water and ice tea in our fridge. And, even for us big kids, we request a PB&J sandwich from time to time. Whatever your daughter would like. Your concierge is able to oversell a restaurant. If your app says that you can't get Cagney's at 7:30 on Monday, ask your concierge on embarkation day and they are likely going to be able to over sell the restaurant for you. Once a restaurant is totally oversold, even the concierge can't get you a seat,,, but normally they will seat you whenever you want. Your concierge will also escort you to shows. While there is a long line to get into the theater or comedy club or other show venue, your concierge will sneak you in the "back door" and allow you to sit in suites seating or any seat in the house (which for us is normally [near] front and center). Both your butler and concierge are there to ensure that you have everything you need to have a wonderful cruise. I did a posting last year on Haven foods. The menu has not changed much, but give it a peak for ideas. You will see that we added a lobster tail or two to every dinner entrée.

You board at Deck 7,,, which is not important since you do not walk up from Deck 1 which is below water level. You enter the upper level of the terminal which has security, check-in and the waiting area. You probably are at about a Deck 6ish level (determined by the tide level) and walk up the gangway to the ship. Before you get to the long security line, there is a place to request assistance all the way to the right. And once through security, there is a check in line for people requiring assistance. New York uses two check in areas based on your deck. I think that all special assistance passengers check in the area just beyond security. The gangways at New York are no better or worse than other ports. The gangways are inclined and the flooring is uneven due to the joints in the moving gangway structure. I would strongly suggest that you get assistance boarding the ship. When we boarded our cruise in Manhattan last year, the tide was low and after walking up the zig-zag gangway, there was actually a slight downward slope to enter the ship.

On the link posted by ggTexasGal, I posted the entertainment schedule and menu from the Supper Club. The dinner shows are completely dependent upon the guest performers onboard. Guest performers sign contracts from 1 to 5 week long, so there is no way of telling what will be playing on your cruise. Dinner shows are complimentary, so, no, you can not use a dinner credit there.

At this point, you have probably waited too long to book dinners pre-cruise. Reservations opened in April or May and popular restaurants, like Cagney's will sell out. Some tables are held for onboard booking. When you embark, head to Teppanyaki, Deck 6 mid-ship to make your dining reservations. .

While you made be licensed at home, the ship is not "licensed" to broadcast on those frequencies in the countries you are visiting.

Not true. And we send a couple of bags out on every cruise (sailing 5-6 times a year) and have never had any problems.

There were 3 or 4 more boxes of "lost and found" lined up down the counter at Guest Services on our last cruise in May. How would you catalog these dozens and dozens of "lost" items? It does not sound like people really understand what "lost and found" is.

Because you were on your unlimited wifi. The discussion here is if you do not have wifi, there is a leak in the NCL wifi that allow iMessage messages go from iphone to iphone without being logged on to the NCL wifi internet.

No. NCL is not like Royal. Royal will send you at least 4-5 emails a week from the day you book to the day you sail "Sale Sale Sale". Pretty annoying.

A generic response. You are charge Washington State taxes on drinks while in WA waters. The casino and shops are closed while in WA hours. You are in WA waters for most of your first day and last day on a Seattle R/T cruise. Upon departure, it takes several hours to clear Puget Sound and the Straits. Pre pandemic, they would not even open the casino on the last day because you're in US waters by the time most people get out of bed. And the shops open for a couple of hours early, then close.... and the dreaded drink tax starts. It is better now that they have scheduled the port call in Victoria later and later (making it a useless port call) Note: Gamblers need to be very conscious of the casino hours on the last two days because you need to cash out your chips and vouchers before the casino closes. If you wait until the last day, you may be stuck with expensive cruise souvenirs.

No problem. We always drag our bags out to the taxi stand across the street and order a Lyft from there.

The casino operates on US Dollars. The machines and tables work exactly the same as Atlantic City... stick a bill into the machine and hopefully get a bigger voucher back. Your sister should insert her room key in the machines to track her play (same as using a players card at a land-based casino). Next cruise, she may be eligible for a discount or comp'ed cruise next time. If you need cash onboard, you can advance against your room account. The ship will charge you a 3% service charge for those transactions. So, if you advance $500, there is a $15 service charge for that transaction. If you use the ATMs onboard, there is a $7 service charge for any amount (which is actually cheaper than ACY's ATMs). If you want to see some pictures of the ship, check out my live post from the Escape in May. Casino photos are on post #47.

This is the problem with the Breakaway and Getaway. After having supersized inside and outside dining rooms on the Epic, NCL put these tiny restaurants on the BA and GA. The restaurant is so small that they have to use the courtyard/pool seating at busy times... and sitting with that chlorine smell is not how I want to enjoy my dinner. So, not only are you using the courtyard for overflow seating, but you also don't have any loungers around the pool which makes no sense at all. Fortunately, that was corrected on the BA+ ships.

Can we reserve them? Yes. dining reservations open exactly 120 days prior to departure at 12 midnight eastern time. For the best selection of dates and times, book exactly 120 days prior to departure, 12 midnight easter time if you can. Sea day reservations and prime time reservations (5:30-7:30) will sell out. The cruise line holds a limited number of reservations for onboard bookings, but booking at the 120 mark guarantees you get what you want. Note: Suites get to start booking 130 days prior to departure. Club Balconies and top-tier Latitudes members get to start booking at 125 days prior to departure. So when general reservations open, some of the days and times may already be sold out. Note: If you have an odd number of people, just book the next even number of seats. For example, if you have 3 people in your party, book a table for 4. How do we know which ones? Not knowing the ship you are cruising on, I can't give you a specific answer. Cagney's Steak House, Le Bistro French, Italian Restaurant, Teppanyaki, Sushi are on most ships. Some ships have Ocean Blue/Bayamo seafood, Moderno Brazilian BBQ, Q BBQ, Los Lobos Mexican, Food Republic are on other ships. Click on your ship on the following link and click on any top level button to get to a navigation menu, then select specialty dining to see the restaurants on your ship.https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship Is it a set menu for the free or a set price? -everything says items are individually priced so how do we know? At most a la carte restaurants, you get to pick 1 appetizer, 1 salad/soup, 1 entrée, and 1 dessert. (A few restaurants have side dishes and those are included). Anything you want off the menu. The menus on the link above, there will be sample menus. A few items at some restaurant have an additional charge (like Lobster dishes) which you can select and pay the up-charge. Note: Teppanyaki you pick one of the entrée and dessert off the menu, appetizers are always the same. Monderno Brazilin BBQ comes with a salad bar and continually carved meats tableside. Food Republic, Sushi, Raw Bar, Pincho Tappas you get to pick 4 items from the small plate menu. Here's an example of a "free" dinner at Cagney's

You each get 2 meals. So you get two dinners together.

Thank you soooo much. I was just looking for this yesterday. We will be on the Encore next month and wanted to see what the Glacier Bay schedule was like.

As stated above, the Specialty Dining Package is non-transferable and must be used by Passenger 1 and 2 in the stateroom (i.e., it is tied to your room key). Normally, it is better to just buy your daughter a 2 meal package and have her dine with Uncle/Aunt or you. Even if she is not a big eater, it is never fun to be the 3rd-wheel feeling self conscious about what you order ("maybe I should just have a small salad and bread because an entrée cost money).

We sail Alaska every year. Last year we were on the RCCL Quantum. This year we're on the NCL Encore. July and August are fine. They maximize your opportunity to see wildlife and it is often shorts and t-shirt weather in port. On the NCL side, I would recommend the Norwegian Encore instead of the Bliss. The Encore is doing Glacier Bay which is the preferred glacier destination over the Dawes glacier. The Bliss and Encore are sister ships with similar features. They were both purpose-built for the Alaskan market with large inside lounge spaces with spectacular views, heated outside dining areas, heated pools and water features. If you continue down a path of going to the Dawes glacier on either NCL or RCCL, book the Glacier Explorer shore excursion which takes you on a small boat up to the face of the glacier. One of the best shore exs and we take it every time we're at Dawes. The big cruise ships are often limited on how close they can get if there is a lot of ice in the water. The small boat just motors up close and personal. Last year on the Quantum, we had to stop about 6 miles away from the glacier and peak at it with binoculars. Vancouver to Anchorage versus Seattle R/T. You would be sailing on the smaller, older ships out of Vancouver. On Day 1 and 2, you'll be in the Canadian inside passage which is a bit more scenic and with more sea life. The older, smaller ships may not be as appealing to the adult children. It's been a while since we sailed on Princess, but we did a Vancouver to Whitter cruise that year with a land tour post-cruise. My big thing about one-way cruses is that the time to get from the port to anchorage airport and the flight schedules really adds an additional day to our travels and a red eye back home. Neither are optimal for us. So, I made this exact decision last year. And I picked a cruise that goes to Glacier Bay (i.e., not Royal) on the Norwegian Encore. Big ship with lots to do at night. Lovely thermal suite to sit in a hot hydrotherapy swimming pool to let the bubbles work out the aches and pains of touring. To give you a peak at the ships, see live posts below. Below is a live post from our 2022 Quantum of the Seas cruise to Alaska (similar to Ovation) Below is a live post from our 2021 Norwegian Encore cruise to Alaska (and we're back on the Encore to Alaska again next month)

There are a few big box TAs that do not participate in the program. Most do.

Just go back in and you will see your bids that can be modified up to the moment the ship leaves the dock.

Every department was issued a cost reduction targets. Entertainment was one area - cheaper to have guest performers on 1-5 week contracts than keeping an entire production onboard. Housekeeping down to once a day. Buffet hours reduced. Less obvious things like breakfast steaks in the Haven being changed from Filet to NY Strip (gasp). Casino cutting host staff in half on big ships and reducing hours (e.g., not opening while anchored in GSC any longer). But,,, every cruise line is doing similar things. It's not just NCL.

If you are an Elite Tier in Casinos at Sea, you get $1000 OBC, comped limo to/from ship, comped daily service charges, $600 shoreex credit, comped premium wifi, black drinks card (like a Plus beverage package). If you are a Ruby Tier in Casinos at Sea, you get $400 OBC, black drinks card. If you are a Sapphire Tier in Casinos at Sea, you get $200 OBC (correcting my earlier post), premium drinks card If you are a Pearl Tier, you get $100 OBC and a regular drinks card. For every 5000 points earned, you can get $50 free play or $50 OBC or a $250 CASNext certificate to use on your next booking.

Royal Caribbean uses the same system/company for their RoyalUp upgrade program along with other cruise lines. The grass is not greener.

July or August are fine. Good time for wildlife. 2021 We sailed on the Norwegian Encore 2022 We sailed on the Quantum of the Seas 2023 We will be on the Norwegian Encore We did a Vancouver to Whittier on Princess before. Pick a cruise that goes to Glacier Bay The NCL big ships are purpose built for the Alaskan market. Expansive indoor and outdoor viewing space. If you are on a shore ex, the Ketchikan Ward,Cove thing is totally irrelevant,,, and is annoyance to a very small number of passengers.

No limit. You can advance $1K at a time ($30 service charge). Maybe there is a $3K per day limit. The hosts should do it automatically, but it is better to talk with them. They will offer additional discretionary comps if you ask. Sapphires get $400. Elite $1K. ‘’Sapphires also get the black ultra drinks card.